


endure and survive

by madkingray



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Immune Keith, M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 21:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7774708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madkingray/pseuds/madkingray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith should say no, should refuse Shiro’s offer like he has many times before with different people. There’s no point in travelling with others, no point in letting himself get close to them when he ends up being the one to watch them succumb to the infection while his own bite just scabs over and eventually becomes an ugly scar.</p><p>He was alone when this all started, he’ll end up being alone no matter what.</p><p>Shiro still looks shy as he waits for an answer, hope in his eyes. Keith opens his mouth, ready to deny him.</p><p>“Okay.” Is what comes out, and Shiro smiles.</p><p>-</p><p>five moments with Keith and Shiro during the end of the world and one extra.</p>
            </blockquote>





	endure and survive

**Author's Note:**

> i was inspired by some zombie au talk in chat and decided to write this, since i am a fan of zombie universe. inspired by the last of us and the walking dead universes because honestly that's where i get my fix.
> 
> thank you may for reading through this and seeing if it was okay <3

i.

He’s never seen him before, but one glance tells him that there’s no chance he’ll make it.

Unless Keith helps.

There’s only a small amount of hesitance, immediately washed away when the struggling gets louder. Keith pulls out his machete, jumping over the fence with ease and rushing over to help. He knocks one of them back, kicking it to the ground before he sinks the blade into its head.

The second one, drawn to him by the noise, starts shuffling towards him. Keith tugs the machete out, turning and holding it loosely in his hand. He notices that the other person got rid of the last one and decides to be quick about this, moving away from reaching arms as he pulls out his knife.

Once the zombie goes down, dead once again, he crouches to clean off his weapons on their dirtied shirts.

“Thanks for helping me, I would’ve been dead if you hadn’t.”

“Spur of the moment,” Keith replies, standing up and putting his weapons back in their sheaths. “Anyone would have helped out, really. I just happened to hear you.”

“Not anyone. Most would have walked past me as fast as possible, taking the chance to get away while the zombies were distracted; which is understandable.” Here, he smiles and offers a hand. “I’m Shiro.”

Keith eyes him for a few seconds longer before shrugging and accepting, giving it a shake. “Keith.” He says, dropping it. “We shouldn’t stay out here, there could be more zombies on the way.” A pause. “Or people.”

“More people could be a good thing.”

“No.” Keith fixes the straps of his backpack, making them tighter. “Not always.” He doesn’t wait for a reply, already starting to walk. He hears Shiro following after him, easily keeping up with his pace, and he’s thankful that the other man doesn’t talk again.

Somehow, the silence is comfortable.

  
 

“Where are you heading?”

“I don’t have a destination in mind, really. I just keep on moving, don’t want to stay in one place for too long.”

“By yourself?”

“Well, yeah.”

Shiro falls silent after that and Keith looks over at him, catching the somewhat shy look on his face. He seems to be thinking something over, looking away for a moment before taking a deep breath and meeting Keith’s gaze. “Want to travel together?”

Keith should say no, should refuse Shiro’s offer like he has many times before with different people. There’s no point in travelling with others, no point in letting himself get close to them when he ends up being the one to watch them succumb to the infection while his own bite just scabs over and eventually becomes an ugly scar.

He was alone when this all started, he’ll end up being alone no matter what.

Shiro still looks shy as he waits for an answer, hope in his eyes. Keith opens his mouth, ready to deny him.

“Okay.” Is what comes out, and Shiro smiles. 

 

 

  
ii.

“You think we can stay the night here?”

Keith looks around the hotel lobby, humming. “We could stay here, yeah, but we should find a good spot—one that’ll make it easy to leave if something happens.” He pauses, eyes going to the door that marked where the stairs are. “Maybe we should go up a couple of floors, check out the rooms. We could stay in one of those too.”

“We could also check them for supplies.”

“What kind of supplies?”

“Medical, most people bring first aid kits with them on trips. Chances are that someone did while they were staying here.” Shiro smiles and shrugs, already walking towards the door. “You never know when you’ll need it, right?”

Keith watches as he stands in front of it, getting ready to push it open. His eyes catch movement through the small window and he’s rushing forward. “Shiro, wait!”

It’s too late, Shiro pushes the door open and a zombie comes through. Shiro gasps, stumbling back as it grabs onto him. It leans in, ready to bite him but Keith is already there. He pushes the zombie away from Shiro, pull his knife out to try and kill it permanently. He holds the zombie’s head as he starts pushing the blade in, crying out when it turns its head and bites down on his palm at the last moment.

The grip the teeth has on him loosens once the blade goes through and Keith pulls both his hand and his weapon away, grimacing at the blood and how much it _hurts._

“Keith?”

He looks up, blinking at the horrified look on Shiro’s face. His gaze is fixed on Keith’s bite and he doesn’t understand why he looks like that. A few seconds pass before he gets it and he lets out a brief laugh.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Keith says, crouching down to clean his knife off. Once he’s done that he places it back in the sheath before standing up again. “I really am.”

“But you got _bit,_ that means you’re going to—”

“Turn?” He moves over to the lobby desk to search for a towel or some napkins and luckily he manages to find the latter. “No, I won’t.” He holds the napkins against the bite, pressing down hard.

“But if you get bit then you turn, doesn’t it work like that?”

“For other people, yes.” Keith smiles to himself, a bitter one. “But not for me.” He looks up and meets Shiro’s gaze, catching the confusion in his eyes. He mulls it over for a couple of minutes before sighing, turning and pulling his shirt to the side to show off his right shoulder.

Shiro steps closer and Keith hears him gasp. “You’ve been bit before?”

He knows how the bite looks, has looked at it many times before in mirrors. The teeth marks are obviously there but the area of the bite is healed, bumpy to the touch and a mix of white and pink. He can feel Shiro’s hand brush against it and, after a few seconds, Keith covers it up with his shirt again before turning to face him.

“It happened when this all started,” Keith says, shrugging. “I wasn’t careful and a zombie got me from behind. I thought I was going to turn but several days passed and I hadn’t yet. I noticed that it started healing, too, and that it didn’t look like other bites I’ve seen. Other bites would still be bleeding, still look fresh, even after they turned. Mine stopped bleeding and it even started to scab over.”

“Oh,” Shiro looks relieved (for Keith?) and then looks thoughtful. “Do you think there are more people that are immune?”

“No,” Keith says quietly. “Some people would think that being immune is lucky but honestly I just think I’m cursed. I live and everyone else gets to die? Someone _must_ be laughing up there.”

Shiro doesn’t say anything and Keith is grateful, taking a couple of deep breaths in the silence that follows. He glances down at his palm, grimaces at the small trickles of blood still coming out. “Can we go looking for first aid kits now?” He asks, already moving towards the door. “I’d really like to wrap this up.”

“Sure. Lead the way.”

  
 

They do manage to find a first aid kit as well as a room close to the stairs. They hadn’t encountered any more zombies throughout their search, but they heard some here and there, which indicated the rooms to avoid.

“I thought the rooms would still be locked, honestly.” Shiro says, sounding thoughtful. Keith hums in response, carefully wrapping his hand with a bandage. “But I guess when people are rushing out of the rooms to try and live it makes sense to just leave it open. Who cares about locking doors when it’s the end of the world?”

“I don’t, that’s for sure.” Keith frowns once he’s finished, staring down at it. “Damn, how am I going to cover this up? Especially when it heals? I don’t want other people seeing it…”

“I can help with that.”

He looks up, confused. Shiro looks slightly embarrassed before he pulls his backpack closer to him, digging through it. Keith watches as he suddenly smiles, pulling out a pair of fingerless gloves. “Here you go,” Shiro says as he tosses them over. “I found them in one of the rooms and thought they’d fit you; forgot about them until now. Maybe they can help.”

Keith simply looks at them for a few seconds before pulling them on, being careful with the bandaged hand. They do fit, and they’ll definitely cover up the bite so he likes them already.

Also, the fact that Shiro found these and thought of him makes him like the gloves even more.

It makes him feel a bit warm.

He realizes that Shiro must be waiting for a response and smiles at him. “Thank you, Shiro.” He says. “I really appreciate this.”

Shiro’s smile grows wider. “You’re welcome.”

 

 

  
iii.

“You feeling any better?”

He doesn’t get a reply, only a cough in response. Keith sighs, placing a hand on Shiro’s forehead—yup, he still has a fever.

Shiro leans into his touch with a hum and Keith moves his hand to run fingers through his hair, hoping it’ll help soothe him.

“You really need medicine,” Keith says quietly, looking out the window. It’s still light out, probably afternoon, but he doesn’t know if he can make it to a store and back without zombies following him. He doesn’t want to risk them finding Shiro, but he needs to get medicine or else Shiro will stay sick and potentially—

Keith looks down at Shiro, who’s finally asleep. He can hear his faint wheezing and can see a bit of sweat on his face.

“I’ll be back,” He says quietly, pulling away from Shiro and standing up. He makes sure the doors are blocked before gathering his things. Keith heads out the window and, with one last glance at Shiro, closes it behind him.

Once he’s made his way down the fire escape he stops, standing in the alleyway for a few moments and wondering how he was going to make it through the streets without getting any zombie attention.

As he starts walking his eyes catch sight of a poncho sticking out of the trash can. An idea forms in his head but it has him grimacing.

“This is going to suck.” He mumbles, grabbing the poncho and heading to the entrance of the alley to wait. He’s not there for long, a zombie making its way past Keith as it grumbles to itself. Keith grabs it from behind, knife to the back of its skull before it can even think to turn and bite him.

He places the body on the ground, leaving it there while he pulls off his backpack to dig around in there. Keith’s glad that Shiro insisted they carry some rubber gloves, because there’s no way he’s going to touch those guts with his bare hands. After he does that he puts the poncho on. It’s big but it’s better that way, he can still wear his backpack underneath.

“Okay,” Keith says to himself, staring at the body. “Here comes the gross part.”

The knife sinks in easily as he cuts open the stomach, nearly gagging at the sight and smell. He turns his head away and takes a deep breath. He has to do this, he has to get medicine (anything that can help) for Shiro.

Shiro’s going to make it.

Keith looks back at the body and pulls out his machete, making an attempt at cutting an intestine into pieces. It’s sloppy work but he’s going to be smearing this all over himself so it doesn’t really matter if it’s perfect. He reaches into the stomach, grimacing at the feel of it all and pulls out some of the pieces, holding them in his hands and sighing.

“Gore me up,” Keith says and covers himself with zombie guts.

  
 

The zombies pay little attention to him, looking his way as he moves slowly through the streets before dismissing him. His fingers twitch every time they look at him, tempted to pull out his knife and stab them but he manages to resist doing so. He has to do this, for Shiro.

He makes it to the store easily, ducking inside and letting out a sigh. He made it.

There are no zombies in there, luckily, but he can hear some starting to linger outside. Keith has to be quick and quiet about this, all those zombies coming in the store would be bad for him. He shifts his backpack to his front as he scans the mostly empty shelves, grabbing the few granola bars and crackers that were left behind.

The medicine section is also nearly empty but Keith spots a couple of boxes all the way against the shelf wall. He grabs them both and reads them, grinning a few seconds later.

One for fever and the other for sore throats.

He shoves them into his bag, shifting it to his back before steeling himself. Keith slowly makes his way back to the front, peeking out the window.

There are more zombies than before, all of them just shuffling in place or stumbling into each other. He can make it past them since he still _smells_ like one of them so he’s certain they won’t try and attack him, just like they didn’t before.

Keith nods to himself. “For Shiro.” He murmurs and steps outside.

  
 

“You did that for me?”

Shiro sounds surprised, voice still hoarse. He’s no longer coughing and his fever’s gone but they’re staying in the small apartment an extra day so Shiro can get more rest. Keith simply nods, cheeks burning.

“Are you feeling okay?” He asks, squashing down the urge to lean in and check for a fever. There’s no need to do that, Shiro’s getting better. “Is there anything you need?”

“I’m fine, you don't have to worry anymore,” Shiro pauses, suddenly looking hesitant. His cheeks gain a pink tint but he keeps his gaze locked with Keith’s. “There is _one_ thing you can do, though.”

“Tell me.”

“Lay with me?”

Keith’s lips part, feeling warm all over. Shiro reaches for his hand, holding it in his own and that makes his stomach feel like it’s been flipped upside down. He gets a squeeze as he glances down at them before looking back at Shiro, watches as he offers a soft smile.

“Um,” Keith ducks his head as his cheeks grow hotter. “Okay.”

There’s a moment, a pause, where they both just sit there—Keith’s hand in Shiro’s. The gentle pull is surprising but he doesn’t say anything, letting Shiro guide him until Keith is resting on his chest. He feels Shiro’s hand on his back, thumb rubbing circles on his shoulder. There’s a feeling in his chest, too, slowly unfurling. It’s indescribable and new, making him feel a different kind of warmth.

It makes him smile, small and hidden.

“Is this okay?”

“It’s fine,” Keith answers, closing his eyes. “It’s perfect.”

There's no reply to that, only Shiro pulling him closer. Keith is already dozing off, the comfort helping him along, when he feels lips press against his head.

“Thank you.”

Keith breathes out, smiling even more now. “Anytime.”

 

 

  
iv.

“Shiro!”

Desperation colors his tone as he struggles in the grips on his arm. The people holding him laugh at his attempts, holding on tighter. He doesn't pay any attention to them, eyes on Shiro.

The leader (he assumes) of this trio is loosely holding a bat, barbed wire wrapped around the wood. Shiro has his head bowed, hands behind his back. Keith knows what's going to happen and he can't get free, can't do a thing to stop it.

He can't save Shiro.

“Just get it over with, Rolo! Don’t waste anymore time.” The girl beside him says, obviously annoyed. Her nails dig into his arm but he doesn’t care about that, he keeps trying to get out of their hold.

The bat is raised and Keith calls out Shiro’s name again. This time, Shiro lifts his head and their eyes lock. He can’t look away, not even as the bat starts coming down.

It stops before it hits him and it suddenly goes quiet. He’s confused at first but once he looks around he realizes why.

They can all see zombies entering the room they’re in, a few of them. They snap their teeth, stumbling faster when they notice that there’s _living_ in front of them.

One of his arms is let go as the person pulls out a gun. He can hear the leader yelling at her to put the gun away so they don’t attract any more zombies but it’s too late—a shot is fired and it hits one in the shoulder.

It doesn’t go down.

They’re stumbling faster, hands reaching for them. Keith doesn’t bother thinking, yanking his arm out of the loose grip and knocking him down. He grabs the gun while the person lays there, dazed, and points it down once he’s standing again.

“No,” His eyes go wide, head shaking as he holds his hands up (like that’ll help). “Please, don’t! I’m s—”

The shot is loud in his ears but he doesn’t stop, turning around to point his gun at the other person who had been holding him. She’s not paying attention, using her arm to hold back the zombie trying to bite her. He moves his gun so it’s pointing at the zombie, takes it out easily.

She looks at him, surprised. “Hey, th—”

Her body falls to the ground and the zombies immediately descend upon it. While they’re distracted he turns around, holding the gun up again as he looks at the leader.

He’s got his arm around Shiro’s chest, bat on the floor as he holds a knife up to his neck. “Drop the gun and I won’t slit his throat.” He says, looking amused by all this. It makes Keith angry, a part of him unsure if this ‘deal’ will be kept if he does what he’s told.

The other part of him says he should do it, anything to make sure Shiro stays alive.

Shiro meets his gaze, giving a nod, and Keith slowly places the gun on the floor. The leader smiles, but doesn’t move away.

There’s nothing _he_ can do, but he has a feeling that Shiro is going to do something.

It happens so fast.

Shiro moves at the same time the knife does and all he hears is a cry of pain before he’s picking the gun back up, aiming at the head before moving it lower and shooting the thigh. Shiro stumbles away as the leader falls down. Keith steps forward, kicking the knife and bat away.

“You okay, Shiro?” He calls out, eyes not moving away from the leader ( _Rolo,_ he remembers the girl saying). He waits for the confirmation before he points the gun at his head.

“Just do it,” He hears Rolo say. “Kill me.”

Keith regards him for a few seconds, thinking about how easily he would have killed Shiro and how he just asks for death rather than beg to be left alive or helped.

“No,” He says, dropping his arms. “The zombies can have you.”

Fear is easy to spot on Rolo’s face, and it almost makes him smile. He turns his back on him, looking for Shiro. Keith spots him near the exit, both of their bags at his feet and weapons in hand. He eyes the blood on his face worriedly but all he gets is a reassuring smile.

“You can help fix it up later, okay?” Shiro hands him his backpack and his weapons, eyes only on Keith. “It doesn’t hurt as much and the blood isn’t bothering me.”

“You better let me,” Keith mumbles, looking down at the gun. “Should I keep this?”

“Do you want to?”

Keith looks back at the Rolo, who’s pulling himself across the floor to get away from the zombies as they start turning their attention on him. He looks back to Shiro and nods. “You never know when we’ll need it again.” Keith says, frowning. “We might face more people like that.”

Shiro smiles at him, accepting the reason, and takes Keith’s hand in his own. “Then let’s go.”

They leave quickly and Keith is glad, he definitely doesn’t want to hear the sounds of Rolo being eaten alive.

  
 

“It’ll probably scar,” Keith says quietly, peering at the cut across the bridge of his nose. It’s still red, beads up blood welling up. He wipes it away as gently as possible, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry, I wish I could have done something that would have prevented this.”

“There’s no need for an apology, you didn’t know this would happen.” Shiro stays still, letting Keith clean and patch him up. “Honestly, it's better than my throat being slit. I’ll take a scar over dying any day.”

“Still.” He pulls back, staring to make sure it won't bleed anymore. It doesn't seem like it will so he grabs the band-aids, unwrapping the larger one and carefully placing it on the middle of the cut. The sides of it get the smaller band-aids and he taps Shiro’s nose once he’s finished. “Does that feel okay? I wish I had something better to put on it but that’s all I have right now.”

“If it does the job then it’s fine.” Shiro opens his eyes and looks at him, lips twitching. “You know, there’s just one thing missing.”

“Oh, really?” Keith frowns, trying to think back. “I’m pretty sure I did everything right. What did I miss?” He hopes it wasn’t anything too important.

“A kiss to make it better.”

Keith blinks at Shiro, confused. The words register completely a second later, the meaning behind it all, and his insides _tremble._ He breathes out and then nods.

He leans forward, pausing for a second before pressing his lips against the band-aids. Shiro gasps, almost unnoticed, and seems to lean into it. Keith pulls back, lingering in Shiro’s space. There’s something else he can do but he doesn’t know if he should.

 _Why not, right?_ Keith thinks to himself before shifting and leaning forward again. He hovers over Shiro’s lips, feels his shaky exhale before he kisses him.

It’s a short one but even as he pulls away a moment later he leans in again and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, moving back up to place a final one where his cut is. Keith pulls back, opening his eyes to watch Shiro’s own open too. He’s looking at Keith like he’s the most amazing sight he’s ever seen, slowly beginning to smile. There’s a flush on his cheeks and he looks so happy, eyes lit up with the emotion.

“All better?” Keith asks, feeling himself smile as well.

“Definitely.” This time it’s Shiro who leans in but Keith meets him in the middle, the two of them smiling into their next kiss.

 

 

  
v.

“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking ‘Oh, hey! Shiro’s in trouble! Better go in and save him before he gets bitten or _killed._ ’” Keith scowls, crossing his arms. The movement causes him pain, wound still stinging even through the makeshift bandages. He’s pretty sure it’s still bleeding, too. “It’s not a big deal!”

Shiro just looks angrier. “It is a big deal! It’s _your_ life you’re risking!” He steps closer to Keith, reaching out to grab his arm. Keith yanks it back and yup, he’s definitely bleeding.

“So? I get to decide what I can do with it, don’t I? Like you said, it’s _my_ life.”

“I don’t want you to die because of me.”

“It wouldn’t be because of you, it would be _for_ you.”

“And then what? You die and leave me all alone?” Shiro looks troubled now, worry in his eyes and Keith hates him, just a little (and himself, a lot, because he’s the reason for that worry). “Keith, what if I did the same for you? Let myself get bit just so you wouldn’t. How would you feel?”

The protest is already leaving his mouth, grabbing Shiro’s shirt and tugging him closer. “ _No._ Don’t do that. I—” His body trembles at the thought of that happening, the thought of losing Shiro because he wanted to protect Keith. He feels Shiro’s arms around him, arm twinging with pain as he presses closer to him. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Then how do you think _I_ feel?”

The fight in him suddenly vanishes, leaving him clinging to Shiro. “Sorry,” He mumbles, feeling only slightly guilty. Shiro brings that reaction out a lot, especially when Keith gets hurt. “I just want to keep you safe and if I can do something about that then I’ll do it.”

“You should focus on keeping yourself safe first.” Shiro says quietly, pulling him over to a corner and pushing him down lightly. Keith gets the hint and sits down, watching as Shiro grabs a candle out of his bag and lights it before setting it down close to Keith. “Take off your jacket? Let me look at the bite.”

“I can do that myself.”

“I know you can. But I want to do this, I want to help you.” Shiro pulls his bag closer, pulling out a water bottle and a small towel. “Let me take care of you, Keith.”

Keith sighs, taking his jacket off and holding his arm out to Shiro. He gets a smile in response, the kind that tells him that Shiro is pleased about something. He watches as Shiro opens the water bottle, getting the towel damp before shifting closer.

“Tell me if I press too hard, okay?” Shiro says, meeting his gaze for a moment. Keith simply nods, tensing up just as Shiro dabs at the wound. He relaxes gradually, Shiro’s gentle ministrations helping him do so.

It’s quiet.

“Keith,” Shiro says softly. Keith moves his gaze away from watching what Shiro was doing and looks at him, waiting. “I know you want to keep me alive but I can do that myself. I’m capable enough.”

“I know that, Shiro.”

There’s a pause, Shiro pulling away to look at the wound. He nods and reaches into his bag, pulling out the bandages they have and begins to slowly wrap them around Keith’s arm. He just keeps watching Shiro, waiting for more. A tap on his arm tells him that he’s finished and he puts his jacket back on, feeling confused when Shiro seems to hesitate.

Keith reaches out and places his hand in the other’s, giving it a squeeze. He gets a smile in return as well as a squeeze back, but his hand isn’t let go.

“The world doesn’t matter if you’re not in it.” Even with the faint light they have Keith can see how Shiro’s cheeks flush. “My life doesn’t matter if you’re not there with me.”

He feels himself grow warm, certain he probably looks as red as Shiro does. Shiro just smiles at him, leaning forward and Keith shuts his eyes—unsure of what Shiro plans on doing.

Lips press against his forehead and he gasps, opening his eyes and meeting Shiro’s gaze in surprise once he’s pulled back. Kisses aren’t a new thing with them, but there’s something about how he looks at Keith like he’s _everything_ that’s getting to him.

“Get some rest,” Shiro says, amused. His eyes are warm, though, and he still hasn’t let go of Keith’s hand. “I’ll keep watch. We’ll find somewhere safer in the morning.”

He leans forward, though, and kisses him quick on the lips. Keith lays down next to Shiro, making a noise when he pulls his hand back but then he feels fingers in his hair, soothing motions that help him start to sleep. Keith shifts closer to Shiro, letting out a content sigh.

“Sleep well.”

With Shiro there to protect him, he knows he will.

 

 

  
i.

One of them pins him to the wall, teeth snapping too close to his face. Keith tries his best to push it back but it keeps fighting back, trying to get to him. He could lift his arm up, let it bite him and use that distraction to push it away but he knows Shiro will be mad.

He can’t even reach for his knife because if he does then the zombie will definitely be able to bite him.

The weight is suddenly off of him and Shiro is there, arm across the zombie’s neck as he presses it against the floor. He watches Shiro stab it in the head before focusing on the other zombie. Keith rushes towards it and kicks it back, pulling his knife out and quickly shoving it into its head.

It had been the last one, thankfully, and Keith stands there, hunched over and panting. Shiro’s off to the side, breathing as hard as he is. He crouches down to pull his knife out, wiping it off on the zombie’s shirt.

“Keith.”

“Yeah?” He puts the knife back in its sheath, standing and turning to face Shiro. “What is it? You okay?”

Shiro doesn’t turn to look at him and while he is worried he still waits, fidgeting in place. A couple of minutes pass by before he hears a sigh, watches as Shiro finally turns. Shiro’s clutching at his arm, and all Keith can notice is the blood.

Panic nearly overwhelms him but he forces it away, body trembling as Keith steps closer to him. “Shiro.” He says quietly, looking up and meeting his eyes. “Is that…”

All Shiro does is remove his hand, showing Keith that it’s _exactly_ what he thought it was.

“You got bit…”

Shiro gives him a smile, not as bright as usual but still obviously trying to be strong for Keith; even as the bite on his forearm continues to bleed. “I did, yeah.” He moves over to a wall, leaning back against it and slowly sliding down. “Sorry about that.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Keith can’t stop staring at the wound, sits across from Shiro and reaches out to touch him. His hands shake and his vision is somewhat blurry but Shiro still grabs his hand, giving it a squeeze. “I don’t want you to _die,_ Shiro.”

“It would have happened anyways, from a bite like this or something entirely different.” Shiro manages to shrug. “It would have happened.” He meets Keith’s gaze, looking very serious. “I already know I’m not going to make it, Keith. I’m definitely _not_ like you but I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“I want you to make sure I die before I become one of them.”

The words don’t register, at first, but he understands a few moments later. “No,” Keith whispers, shaking his head. “No, I won’t do it. I _can’t_ do it.” A couple of tears manage to escape and he leans forward, pressing his forehead to Shiro’s. “Please don’t make me do that.”

His hand is let go as Shiro pushes him back, leaving a bit of space between them. The urge to cry is there, and it’s so hard to resist it. A few more tears leak out and Shiro’s hands are there, wiping them away. Keith places his hands over Shiro’s, voice shaky. “Don’t leave me.”

All Shiro does is smile sadly at him. “I can’t promise that now.”

They sit there together, Keith trying to get himself under control and Shiro gently rubbing his thumbs across his cheeks.

An idea suddenly forms and he doesn’t know if it’s a good or a bad one, not yet—he’ll know if it is after he does it. “No,” He says, pushing Shiro’s hands away. “You’re not going to die, and I’m not going to kill you.” He ignores Shiro’s confused look as he stands up and heads over to where he had dropped his bag and weapon, pulling them close.

“What do you mean by that?”

He doesn’t answer yet, pulling out his last water bottle and one of his other shirts. Keith pours some water over the blade of his machete, hoping to get it at least somewhat clean. They don’t have enough time, and Keith would like to get this over with as soon as possible. “I can fix this.” He says, wiping away the water. “I can.”

“Keith…”

“Shiro, _please._ ” He walks back over to him, crouching down beside Shiro. His eyes sting again but he blinks away the tears before they can fall. “If I do this and it works, then you survive. If it doesn’t work then I’ll do what you want me to do.”

Shiro looks at him before nodding, and Keith places his machete on the floor as reaches down to unbuckle his belt. He wraps it around Shiro’s bicep, makes sure that it’s tight enough before picking up his weapon.

They’re all set.

He lifts the machete, meeting Shiro’s gaze. “Do you trust me?”

The reply is immediate, no hesitation. “More than anything.”

Keith takes another deep breath, willing his hands to not shake anymore, and nods to himself. “I love you.” He says before bringing the blade down onto Shiro’s arm.

 

 

 

  
“I can’t believe you convinced me to stay out here,” Keith says, frowning to himself. “Honestly, you’re a bad influence. We’re supposed to be on the move, so that way no zombies can get us and yet here we are playing house.”

All he gets is a laugh in response, which causes him to huff. “I blame you,” He continues, heading into the kitchen. He opens up a cabinet, grabbing one of the granola bars there. “Making us all domestic while it’s the end of the world. It’s all your fault.”

“You’re the one who found this place, though. You should get some of the blame.”

He jumps when an arm wraps around him, pulling Keith closer to them. All he does is sigh, leaning into the warmth as he starts eating his bar. “Whatever.” He mumbles, feels his cheeks heat up when he gets another laugh, followed by a kiss to his head.

“Let’s go sit on the porch, do some stargazing.”

Keith thinks it over, waiting until he’s finished with his granola bar before nodding. “Sounds good,” He turns and looks up, offering a smile. “Lead the way.”

Shiro smiles back at him, pulling back and holding out his hand. Keith grabs it, intertwining their fingers and letting Shiro pull him out of the house.

 

“It’s the end of the world, yeah.” Shiro says, later; Keith pressed against his side. The stars above them shine brightly, there’s a cool breeze in the air, and Keith feels content. “But if I’ve got you by my side then it’s not that bad.”

“I’m glad I found you.” Keith murmurs, closing his eyes. “I’m glad you’re still here with me.”

Shiro kisses his head and he smiles.

Everything around them has fallen apart but it’ll all be okay as long as they have each other.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this! i might write more for this universe (and include the others) but i'm not sure right now! thanks for reading!


End file.
